Kidnapped
by Cloud van Dyk
Summary: Sequel to "The Freshman". Cloud and Tifa are a happy couple, but when Tifa is kidnapped by a mysterious man, her life and her love are in danger...Chapter 7 up
1. Prologue

Author's Note: The following piece is a sequel to my story „The Freshman", taking place two years after it. I suggest that you read "The Freshman" first, otherwise you may not understand some of the things that are mentioned in this fic. 

Disclaimer: I do not own FF7, but I own the plot, including the characters William, Scott and Logan.

Dedication: I dedicate this story to my grandfather, who's in the hospital. Love you, get better soon.

Kidnapped 

Tifa awoke from her sleep when the sunlight shone into her face. She yawned and blinked twice before she was ready to open her eyes. Looking to the left, the brunette saw her sleeping lover, Police Inspector Cloud Strife. Tifa checked the watch and sighed; they had to get up, if she and Cloud didn't want to be late for work.

"Cloud", she whispered into her lover's ear, "Cloud, honey, wake up." Cloud groaned and opened his eyes.

"Huh?" he mumbled, causing Tifa to giggle.

"It's half past six, we have to get up." She then informed him. Cloud pulled the covers over his head, and his muffled voice came:

"I don't wanna." Tifa shook her head.

"Honey, I know you are tired, but we have to get into the office." She demanded, pulling the covers away from her boyfriend. Cloud groaned again and finally climbed out of the bed, allowing Tifa to get a good peek at his muscular body. The blonde inspector started to get dressed while Tifa wriggled herself out of the bed, "forgetting" that she used to sleep naked. Cloud stopped his dressing and stared, until Tifa grabbed her pillow and threw it after him.

"It's not very gentleman-like to stare at a lady!" she scolded. Cloud caught the pillow before it hit him and grinned at her before he replied:

"I never said that I'm a gentleman." Tifa poked her tongue out at him and started to dress herself. 

"C'mon, Cloud, honey", she spoke while she buttoned her blouse close, "go and make coffee. For me?" Cloud just nodded, threw the pillow back on the bed and walked out of the bedroom to start breakfast. Tifa soon followed; she just remade the double bed, stuffed Clouds boxershort he always wore at night under his pillow and then walked out.

"Good Morning!" Cloud grinned when he entered the office.

"Good Morning!" Tifa entered one second after her boyfriend.

"Good Morning!" Scott, Logan and William, Tifas colleagues replied unison. (A/N: Wasn't that triple Good Morning annoying?) 

"Anything new?" Cloud asked, standing in the doorway to his private office. 

"Nope!" William replied. 

"Just lotsa paperwork." Scott added. Cloud shrugged and entered his office while Tifa sat down at her desk and started to look for her coffee cup. Cloud had given it to her at her birthday last year, and now she used it at work. But today it seemed like the cup grew legs and ran away. After five minutes of useless searching, Tifa looked up, fire in her eyes.

"Okay, boys, where did you put it?" she asked, causing Will, Logan and Scott to put on their angel faces. 

"What are you talking about?" Logan asked, and Tifa threw a roll of duct tape after him. All in good fun, of course. 

"My coffee cup! The one with the teddy bears on it." The three guys gave her a weird look. "We didn't hide your cup. But we hid your mouse." Will admitted. Tifa frowned, then shrugged. 

"Maybe I left it in the dishwasher yesterday. I'll go and look for it later." Before Tifa could waste any more thoughts on her missing cup, Clouds voice came:

"Tifa! Into my office!" Tifa grinned and hurried into the office of her boyfriend, while her three male colleagues let out wolf whistles. Tifa closed the door behind her and turned around. Before she had finished her move, Cloud had grabbed her and sealed her lips with a hard, passionate kiss. Tifa pushed her lover and boss over to his desk, turned around and sat on the edge of it without breaking the kiss. She felt that Cloud opened her belt and smiled.

Peeking into the telescope, the man watched how Cloud and Tifa enjoyed the actions of love in Clouds office. His eyes were burning with hate when he pulled back from the telescope. "Soon, my dear." The man spoke, his blue eyes glistening in the sunlight, "soon you will be mine." He turned around and left the room, slamming the door close behind him. 


	2. Kidnapped

Tifa almost crawled into the dishwasher, but she couldn't find her special cup. Pouting, the brunette closed the dishwasher and glared at it, as if it swallowed it. 

"Hey honey." Clouds voice suddenly came from the door, causing Tifa to jump. She whirled around, looking at her grinning lover.

"Cloud! Don't you sneak up on me like that!" Cloud chuckled and walked into the small kitchen, grinning at his love.

"Sorry bout that." He apologized, Tifa smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. 

"It's okay, hon. Now, what do you want?" she asked. Cloud put his arms around her waist and smiled down on her.

"We have a new case, darling. I want you to check the site of crime, along with one of our three perverts." Tifa giggled at the last words and placed a kiss on Clouds cheek.

"Okay, hon. If I'm back for lunchtime, we'll go together, right?"

"Of course." Cloud replied. Tifa smiled, wriggled out of her lover's embrace and left the kitchen to pick one of the three perverts, like Cloud called them, to accompany her.

Half an hour later, Logan and Tifa arrived at the site of crime, a small shop in one of the many side alleys of Midgar. The owner of the liquor store laid on the floor, behind his counter, a bullet wound in his chest. Blood was sprayed everywhere, much to Tifas disgust. 

"These murderers are so ugly." Logan complained while he stepped over one of the many blood puddles on the floor. 

"Can't they kill their victims without creating such a mess?" Tifa just shrugged while she bent over the corpse, studying him. 

"He was shot from a close distance." She then said. Logan came closer, looked at the dead man and nodded. 

"You're right, Tiff. And look at his face, he doesn't look shocked. Think he knew the person who killed him?" Tifa shrugged. 

"Could be, but I'm not sure about it. Hey…what's that?" The brunette spotted a glistening object in one of the corners, quickly pulled on her latex gloves, walked over and picked it up. 

"Logan, look at that!" she then called out. Logan hurried over to her and eyed the thing Tifa had found curiously. It was an ancient looking coin, with the word "SOMETHING" engraved on it. 

"That is weird." Logan muttered. "Something? What's that supposed to mean, something?" Tifa shrugged and dropped the coin into one of those plastic bags, where the evidence was kept. That was when the two cops heard the door of the small shop open, and Logan turned around to shoo the person away.

"You can't go in here, it's…" He never finished the sentence. The man who had entered the store aimed a huge gun at him and shot. Tifa screamed in shock when a little arrow dug into her colleagues chest; Logan stared down at it for a few moments before he fell to the floor, the narcotic on the arrow doing it's work. Tifa wanted to rush to her colleagues aid, only to be stopped from the man who had shot Logan down. The unknown attacker shot another arrow into Tifas shoulder, and she broke down, moaning in pain. As soon as she had fallen unconscious, the man picked her up and carried her out of the store. 

Cloud looked at his watch again, frowning. 

"What is taking her so long?" he talked out loud. Scott and William looked up, giving him two worried looks.

"Maybe one of us should check on her." Scott suggested. William agreed, as did Cloud.

"Scott, you drive to the address we have and see what they are doing. If anything happened, call us immediately!" Scott nodded, literally jumped into his jacket an ran off.

Tifa awoke in complete darkness. For a few terrible moments she thought that she gone blind, until she felt the cloth that was tied over her eyes. A second one covered her mouth, and to her horror Tifa had to find out that somebody had used her own handcuffs to chain her wrists behind her back. She whimpered in fear, but then remembered her training and decided to stay silent – she didn't want to know her kidnapper that she was awake. Tifa concentrated on her surroundings – which was hard, since she was blindfolded – and registered a small shaking of the ground underneath her. 

_"I'm in a car!" the brunette realized. __"That's no good!" Before she could think any further, the car came to a stop. A few minutes later, the trunk was opened.  _


	3. Phonecalls And The FBI

Cloud was pacing his office, looking at as watch every five minutes. Finally, the phone rang, and the blonde inspector practically jumped over to it. 

"Hello?…hi Scott…_what? Dear God! And Tifa…she's not there?! Damn…ok, get Logan into a hospital…and then come back here! Yeah, see you." Cloud hung up the phone and cursed at it. _

_"Where could Tifa be? Something happened to her! Oh dear God…" Clouds mind was reeling. However, his thoughts were disturbed when the phone rang once more._

"Scott, is that you again?" the inspector barked into the receiver.

"No." a deep, male voice came. Cloud frowned.

"Then who are you?" he asked, wondering who that guy was.

"That's not important." The man replied. "I have your girlfriend, Cloud." 

_"What?!" Cloud yelped, shocked. "What do you mean, you have my girlfriend?" The unknown man sighed into the receiver._

"What's so hard to understand about that? I have Tifa at my mercy." He chuckled. "I think she doesn't like me." 

"Let me talk to her!" Cloud demanded, only to receive an evil laughter.

"No, the time hasn't come yet. You'll talk to her when I allow it." The man then said. Cloud snarled into the phone, his old anger welling up inside him.

"You have no chance, buddy! As soon as the police director knows that you kidnapped one of his officers, the FBI will be at your heels!" he threatened, hoping that he could talk the man into letting Tifa go. Instead of getting frightened, the guy just laughed.

"The FBI? I don't fear those clowns. Don't worry, you'll find out what this all is about when the time has come." Cloud figured that the phrase "When the time has come" was one of the man's favorites. Before he could reply anything, the man had hung up the phone.

"Your boyfriend is irritating, you know that?" Tifas head came up when she heard the voice of her kidnapper, this time talking to her and not on the phone. She whimpered behind the cloth that covered her mouth, and she flinched when she felt a warm hand touch her cheek. "Shht, honey. I won't hurt you. You're very important to me." The man whispered into her ear. Tifa felt how his hand wandered underneath her shirt and started to cry.

As soon as the kidnapper had hung up the phone, Cloud dialed the extension of the Police Director and informed him about the kidnapping. One hour later, the blonde inspector was surprised from two people entering his office: a tall man with long, black hair, and a smaller one with shortcut, blonde hair. Both were wearing black suits, and the black haired introduced himself and his companion. 

"This is Special Agent Cid Highwind, and I'm Special Agent Vincent Valentine, FBI." Cloud shook the hands of the two men and quickly explained the situation to them. 

"Kidnapping a police officer, that guy is a @%&$§%$ !!!" Cid blurted out as soon as Cloud had finished the explanation. The blonde inspector stared at the FBI agent in awe, and Vincent smacked Cid on the back of the head. 

"Cid! What did I tell you about cursing in public?" Cid hung his head in shame.

"Sorry, Vince. But I just couldn't…"

"Don't call me Vince!" Cloud gaped at the two agents for a while until he butted in:

"Excuse me! Could you save your quarrels for later? My girlfriend is in danger!" 

"Sorry." Cid and Vincent replied unison. Cloud just sighed.

"Great. The FBI send two agents for help, but all they do is fighting." He then muttered, earning death glares from both Cid and Vincent. Cid started to dig around in his jacket, until he produced a pack of cigarettes and a Zippo™.

"Mind it if I smoke?" he asked Cloud, and the inspector sighed and shook his head.

"No." 

"Thanks!" Cid beamed and lightened a cigarette.

"So", Vincent suddenly spoke up, "did you find anything at the place of kidnapping?" Cloud nodded and pulled the small plastic bag with the coin in it out. Vincent took the bag from Clouds hand while Cid put on a pair of latex gloves. The blonde agent pulled the coin out and looked at it.

"SOMETHING." He muttered. "What does that mean, something?" Cloud shrugged. 

"Nobody of us has a clue what it could mean. Do you think that is has something to do with Tifa being kidnapped?" Vincent shrugged.

"We should check the site of crime again, maybe we find more." He then suggested. Cid nodded, and the two took off, leaving an astonished Cloud behind.


	4. The Second Coin

Vincent was rummaging around in the liquor store, searching for new or overseen hints concerning the kidnapping and the murder. While his colleague looked around in the store, Cid leaned against the wall, smoking a cigarette. 

"Hey, Vincent, found anything?" the blonde man asked when his dark haired companion came walking out. Vincent shook his head no and sighed.

"I guess we'll have to wait until the kidnapper decides to call again…or until a new murder happens, maybe he'll leave behind another coin." Cid sighed and agreed on that.

"But Strife won't be too happy about that." The chain smoker then mumbled. "He really seems to care about that girl." Vincent let out a little sigh, too, and nodded.

"C'mon, Cid, let's get back to the police station. Maybe something new happened meanwhile." Cid nodded once more, and the two of them got into their car and drove off.

"It's time to give them a new coin." Tifas head came up when she heard the man's voice again; he didn't talk much, and the few things he said scared the brunette officer out of her mind. Meanwhile, Tifa was almost at the end of her rope. Tied to a wooden post all the time, blindfolded and gagged, she had no clue where she was and who had taken her to this place. The attacker seldom spoke to her; most of the time, he just sat there without making any noise beside his breathing, and slowly but sure Tifa came to the conclusion that she was in the hands of a madman. 

"I'll be back soon." The kidnapper now spoke. All of a sudden, his hand touched Tifas cheek, and she flinched. 

"Don't you try to run away from me. I would find you and take you back." With that, the man left, leaving Tifa alone with her fear and thoughts.

Meanwhile, Cid and Vincent sat in Clouds office, driving the poor inspector bonkers with their constant bickering. Unfortunately, Cloud couldn't escape by talking to Scott or William, since both were out to visit poor Logan who was in the hospital. Luckily, the phone suddenly rang, giving Cloud a reason to stop the two agents argument. 

"Silence!" the inspector barked, causing Cid and Vincent to look at him shocked. Cloud didn't bother about them anymore, but picked up the receiver. 

"Hello?" He talked for a while, scribbling an address on a piece of paper and finally hung up again. 

"There was a new murder, this time in a tool store." He then informed the two FBI agents. "I'll go there and check it off. You two…do whatever you usually do." With that, Cloud left the stunned agents alone. As soon as the door had closed, Cid turned to Vincent and stated:

"He's an ass."

Cloud reached the scene of crime, entered the store – and backed off with a disgusted yelp. The floor was practically swimming from blood, and an ugly smell was in the air. 

"Dear God!" Cloud called out, shuddering. He carefully jumped over the various sized blood puddles on the floor until he reached the murdered owner of the shop. A screwdriver had been rammed into his chest, deep enough to only let the handle be visible. 

"Gross." Cloud muttered to himself. "Who could do such a thing? Who is strong enough to ram a screwdriver that deep into a man's chest?" Shuddering, Cloud bent over the corpse to check the corpse. His eye fell on an object that hung around the mans neck – it was a silver necklace with a coin attached to it. Quickly, Cloud put on a pair of latex gloves and opened the necklace's lock. He looked at the coin, discovering the word that was graved into it.

"WILL." 

"Something will." Cloud muttered. "There's still a word or more missing…does that mean there will be more killings? And what can we do to prevent them?" Sighing, Cloud threw the coin into one of the little bags and put it into his pocket. He left the site of crime, unaware of the man who stood in the storage room and watched him.

Cid and Vincent studied the found coin anxious and made up various theories about the next word. 

"Something will happen." Cid suggested, but Vincent shook his head. 

"Something will awake." Cid just grunted and added another suggestion: 

"Something will explode." 

"Pyro." Vincent accused his friend, and Cid chuckled. Cloud didn't pay much attention to them; he sat on his desk, his head in his hands, and thought about Tifa and how he could safe her. 


	5. Escape

Author's Note: Sorry it took me so long to update, but I had some weird kind of writer's block ^^ I hope it's over now! *hoping and praying* Anyway, on with the story :-] 

Tifa sat with her back against the wooden post, patiently rubbing the rope that tied her hands against it. Slowly, the rope became thinner, and the officer let out a little sigh of relief. She continued her working on the rope, until it suddenly ripped apart, freeing her hands. 

_"Finally!" the brunette thought to herself, while she undid the gag and freed her legs from the bounds. She quickly stood up, feeling a little dizzy for a moment – after all, she had been sitting for days now – and walked over to the door of the hut. The officer tried to open it, only to find out that it was locked._

"Crap!" Tifa cursed, angered. She looked at the rather small window, decided that she would fit through and walked over to the desk, pulling the table cloth down. She wrapped it over her right fist, lashed out and whacked the window as hard as possible. A sharp wave of pain flooded up her arm, causing her to wince, but the glass shattered. Tifa chuckled when she thought about the face of her captor – although she had never seen him -, removed the little bits and pieces of glass which were still stuck to the frame and climbed out. She looked back at the house one more time, trying to remember it's look for later investigation with the police and then ran off.

Meanwhile, Cloud was yelling at Cid and Vincent.

"If you have to bicker all day long, _don't do it in my office!" Both FBI agents shrank in their seats while Cloud's wrath flooded over them._

"Sorry." Cid quipped, looking at the inspector as innocent as possible. 

"We both are very sorry." Vincent spoke, eyeing Cloud carefully. 

"I don't care!" Cloud snapped. "My girlfriend was kidnapped, goddammit, and all you two do is bickering around about the third word! I don't care about that @%$&%$ word, as long as I don't know where Tifa is!" Cid stared at the inspector in awe.

"That was a cool swear word, can you repeat that?" the blonde agent asked. Vincent ducked when the vein on Cloud's temple started to pulse. 

_"GET OUT!" _

Scott and William looked up in surprise when the two weird FBI agents Highwind and Valentine came running out of Cloud's office, followed by a string of courses and the slamming of the door. 

"What was that?" Scott asked, earning a broad grin from Cid. 

"Just the choleric side of your boss." William grinned and was about to say something, when suddenly the door opened. Four jaws met the floor, and it took a while until William was able to speak.

"T-Tifa…?"

Tifa stared in awe when four men started to swarm around her, all talking the same time.

"Where were you?"

"Are you okay?"

"Hi, I'm Cid Highwind!"

"The names Vincent Valentine!"

"We have to get Cloud!"

"SILENCE!" Tifa thundered, her head spinning from all the babbling guys around her. Of course Cloud heard her shouting and poked his head out, thinking that he hallucinated the voice of his beloved. His eyes went wide at what he saw.

"Tifa!" the inspector called out, rushed out of the office and over to his girlfriend, who now looked at him, smiling. Cloud pulled her into a strong embrace, and they sank into a deep kiss.

"Awww." Cid said, clinging to Vincent. "Aren't they cute?"

"Yes, they are." Vincent agreed. "But, Cid, could you *please* let go of me?" Cid blushed. 

"Sorry!" He freed Vincent, and watched how Cloud and Tifa performed a very good demonstration of French Kissing. Finally they parted, and Cloud led Tifa into his office. None of them wasted a single thought on the killer, and that should turn out to be something very dangerous later. 


	6. The Third Coin

„I memorized the location of the hut where that sicko held me captive." Tifa informed Cloud while the couple was sitting in his office, drinking coffee. Cloud smiled at her.

"Great. That shows that you're a good cop, honey." Tifa smiled back to him, but her smile faded when Cloud informed her about the coins they had found. 

"I'm afraid that there will be at least one more of them." The blonde inspector spoke thoughtfully, and Tifa agreed. 

"And there is nothing we can do." Cloud sighed. "The killer didn't leave any tracks, except for the coins, and those didn't have fingerprints on them." 

"Do you think he's identical to the man who kidnapped me?" Tifa wondered. Cloud nodded.

"Pretty sure. He called me and informed me about it. And he told me that he has you…had you." Cloud corrected himself. He reached over the table and took Tifas hand into his. 

"I was so worried about you." The inspector whispered, his voice hoarse with emotion. "I though that I would loose you…" Tifa just leaned in to kiss her lover, when suddenly the door flew open and Cid and Vincent burst into the room. Cloud and Tifa jumped apart, both blushing; Tifa out of embarrassment, Cloud out of anger. 

"Can't you knock?!" Cloud scolded, and Cid grinned at him. 

"Nope. We just received news about a third case of murder." Cloud sighed and closed his eyes. 

"Great. Tifa, get ready. We'll go there, now." Tifa nodded, left the office and prepared herself for leaving.

"Ugh, what a mess." Tifa mumbled while she bent over the killed owner of the small bookstore. The blood of the poor woman was practically everywhere. The books were covered with crimson, and they were huge puddles on the floor. 

"I knew it." Cloud suddenly said behind her. Tifa turned around to look at him, and he showed her the coin he had found. 

"What does it say?" Tifa asked. Cloud looked at it closely and spoke:

"AWAKE." 

"I was right!" Vincent grinned, earning odd looks from Cloud and Tifa and an angry one from Cid.

"Yeah, yeah, Mister I-know-everything." Cid grunted. Vincent just grinned and shrugged, while Cloud shook his head.

"It's a miracle that you two didn't kill each other by now." Tifa informed Cid and Vincent, who both grinned at her.

"All in good fun, Tiff." Cid replied. 

"I wonder what will awake." Cloud mused out loud, simply ignoring the bickering of the two FBI agents. Tifa shrugged. 

"I have no clue." She then admitted. "But I'm curious to find it out." Cloud agreed on that and dropped the coin into the plastic bag. He took Tifa's hand, and the couple left the site of crime, followed by the two FBI agents. 

A pair of cold, hard eyes followed the four people, watching them closely. 

"So she got away." The man muttered, a small smile on his face. "Great. My plan works out well." He turned around and disappeared in the shadows, a long strand of brunette hair dangling from his belt while he walked. 


	7. Awakening

„I'm glad that you're back safe." Cloud informed Tifa while they were driving home from work. 

"Yeah, me too." Tifa sighed. "Although it bothers me that I don't know who that guy is."

"We'll find out." Cloud promised. "I'll send a SWAT team to the hut where he held you captive." Tifa nodded and smiled at her lover, who smiled back.

"Now, what do you think about going out for dinner?" the blonde inspector smiled. 

"I think that it's a great idea!" Tifa replied, grinning.

Cloud finished his dinner and shoved the plate away, holding his stomach. 

"That was good." He informed Tifa, who smiled at him and put her fork and knife down. 

"You're right, it was great." Cloud was about to say something more when suddenly the ground started to shake.

"What the…" Tifa murmured while Cloud and she rose from their chairs. The shaking increased, and Tifa had to hold on Cloud for support.

"Is that an earthquake?" Cloud wondered out loud while the other guests of the restaurant ran out, screaming in fear. One of the lamps fell from the ceiling, shattering into thousand pieces next to Tifa, who shrieked. 

"Let's get outta here." Cloud commanded. His lover nodded, and the two of them ran out on the street. There, chaos awaited them. (A/N: No, I don't mean Chaos, Vincent's limit break!) Several fireplugs had burst open, spraying water on the street. One of the power supply lines had ripped in two, the ends squirming on the street like snakes, blue sparks flying away from them. Tifa saw with horror how a man stepped into a puddle of water and the sparks quickly crawled up his legs, causing his whole body to shake. He screamed until his heart couldn't take the voltage anymore.

"Oh God…" Tifa moaned, hiding her face in Cloud's chest. Suddenly, the air was filled with loud, cracking noises. Cloud looked up just in time to see how the asphalt of the street started to crack open. 

"Tifa, run." He spoke, his voice scared and shaking. "There's something terrible wrong." The two of them started to run while the street continued to crack and shake. Suddenly, a huge crack appeared right underneath Tifas foot, causing her to stumble and fall. She felt how her ankle twisted in an unnatural way and screamed in pain when it broke with a sickening crunching noise. 

"Tifa!" Cloud yelled, kneeling down next to her. He reached out to grab her when something hard and heavy smashed the back of his head and blew his lights out.

Cid and Vincent sat in the local bar, drinking beer, when the shaking started. Cid spilled his beer and cursed.

"Why is there an earthquake now?!" the blonde agent scowled, until Vincent put a hand on his arm. 

"That's not an earthquake, Cid." He spoke. "It's something more." Cid looked at him as if he had lost his mind, but he quickly agreed when the street started to tear open.

"Okay, let's get outta here and check this out." The foul mouthed agent commanded. Vincent nodded, and the two men ran out of the bar. They stopped dead in their tracks at what they saw. A sticky, grayish bulk of slime came seeping out of the cracks. 

"What the @%&%$%$ is that?" Cid cursed. He jumped back when the slime reached his toes and tried to crawl up on him. 

"Get away from me, you…you…thing!" Vincent grabbed his friend's sleeve. "Let's run to the police station, Cid, they will know what to do!" Cid nodded, and the two men ran off.  


End file.
